At the risk of sounding overly British - lets talk about the weather.
Every year it happens.
Every year, without fail, I can look back over the trends in client results and see a dip in progress when the seasons change.
This past week is the first time i've felt a real drop in temperature, and seen what can be considered as dull, depressing weather.
"I just feel like I want to eat everything in sight at this time of year"
So why do we do it?
(Yes me too, i'm also writing this as a reminder to myself)
Well, a few reasons.
- I don't have any data to back this up, but its often claimed that we experience a sudden urge for higher calorie foods in the winter as a survival mechanism. From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense. More body fat = more insulation = potential to survive the winter.
- Cold weather can affect your mood. SAD (seasonal adjustment disorder) is a very real thing. And we all know with a change in mood comes the potential risk of comfort eating.
- Lets face it, from a vanity perspective, we have much less drive to look in shape in the winter. There's a reason 'summer body' is a thing. Wearing more layers can mean a hell of a lot more ' fuck it ' moments when it comes to food.
So, what can we do to beat it?
Here are my top tips:
1 - Plan and cook calorie controlled comfort foods.
Don't just wing it and hope that your creations will fit your needs. Create a go-to collection of calorie controlled meals that 'hit the spot' on a cold winter night.
Check out these Easy Cook Slow Cooker Meals From Muscle Food
2 - Eat without distraction.
With cold nights comes hibernating in front of the TV with a blanket and....food?
No.
One of the easiest ways to pile on the pounds is to eat while being distracted.
Discipline yourself to separating meal times and relaxation times. Eat your food mindfully at the table. Think about how much you're eating and stop when you're satisfied, not when you reach food coma levels.
Food first, THEN start the Netflix marathon. Don't combine both.
3 - Keep training. Keep training HARD.
Your ability to maintain a healthy diet is intrinsically linked to your training.
When you're on a roll with training, you WANT to eat well.
If you start to let your training slip, your diet will invariably slip with it.
So ramp up your training intensity through the winter.
Commit to sticking to a sold exercise program or a certain number of exercise classes per week. If you're not currently exercising and always find it had to eat well during winter, I guarantee you its a whole lot easier with exercise.
So just get started.
4 - Create accountability
During the hotter months we often have self-imposed accountability in the form of events we want to look in shape for.
Without this, it’s easy to let things slip. So create an accountability system through the colder months.
Get together with a bunch of friends, create a group chat, and hold each other accountable.
Create goals between you all for exactly where you want to be at the end of the year.
When one of you wants to sack off the gym because its cold, you will be letting down the group.
When one of you wants to face plant a massive bowl of crumble and custard on a cold day, the accountability will kick in.
Or, (shameless plug coming) hire a coach to hold you accountable.
5 - Do not, under any circumstances, engage ' F*** it mode '
Okay, so this one's not strictly related just to cold months, but it’s a hell of a lot more prevalent.
Through a combination of not employing the above tips, it becomes very easy for 1 bad meal to turn into completely writing off the whole winter.
"Screw this, i'll get back on it in the summer, i'm winter bulking anyway"
No you're not, you've engaged f*** it mode.
You're going to write off a whole quarter of the year?
Through what, one bad meal? One bad training session?
You'll then spend the whole of spring clawing back the progress you lost in winter.
So stop feeling guilty when you screw up. You might have a few evenings of eating your feelings.
Remember, you are the sum total of all your combined habits, not single moments.
So turn 'f*** it mode' off right now, and go and own the next few months.
